Noemí Taboada
Noemí is a wealthy urban socialite from Mexico City who ventures to High Place to check on the welfare of her cousin, Catalina. As a woman of high society, she pays careful attention to…
read analysis of Noemí Taboada
Catalina
Catalina is Noemí’s cousin. She married Virgil Doyle after a short engagement—her family hardly had the chance to meet Virgil before he whisked Catalina away to High Place. Catalina’s parents died while she was…
read analysis of Catalina
Francis
Francis is Florence’s son, Howard’s nephew, and Noemí’s love interest. His father, Richard, died when Francis was just a boy, and Francis carries around a picture of him to remember him by…
read analysis of Francis
Howard Doyle
Howard Doyle is the patriarch of the Doyle family. He’s hundreds of years old; the fungus underneath High Place helped him achieve immortality through cannibalism, sacrifice, and slaughter. The first European to discover the fungus…
read analysis of Howard Doyle
Virgil
Virgil is Howard’s only son, and Catalina’s husband. Though he would typically inherit his family’s estate after Howard’s death, his father’s immortality robs him of that prize. Virgil therefore secretly plots to allow…
read analysis of Virgil
Get the entire Mexican Gothic LitChart as a printable PDF.
Florence
Florence is Howard’s niece, and Francis’s mother. She is the only female villain in the novel—the only woman without a redeeming moment. When Noemí arrives at High Place, Florence strictly enforces the conventions…
read analysis of Florence
Ruth
Ruth is Howard’s niece. She died after shooting Howard, her fiancé, and her mother. Ruth fell in love with an indigenous miner named Benito, but Howard had already arranged Ruth’s marriage to her cousin…
read analysis of Ruth
Agnes
Agnes is Howard’s first wife. Though she had no biological children, Howard chose to inscribe upon her tombstone the word mother—for Agnes is the mother of the gloom. The gloom—a fungal network…
read analysis of Agnes
Dr. Camarillo
Julio Camarillo is the local physician in El Triunfo. Though Noemí initially believes that Dr. Camarillo can properly diagnosis Catalina and get her out of High Place, she quickly learns that Dr. Camarillo is no…
read analysis of Dr. Camarillo
Dr. Cummins
Arthur Cummins is the Doyle family’s personal doctor, and he has served them for decades. His daughter was Virgil’s first wife, but she fell sick after interacting with the fungus and passed away. Dr…
read analysis of Dr. Cummins
Noemí’s Father
Noemí’s father is the one who sends Noemí on her quest to rescue Catalina—though he’s initially dismissive of Catalina’s claims, calling her melodramatic. He clearly cares for his daughter and is more modern-minded than…
read analysis of Noemí’s Father
Minor Characters
Marta Duval
Marta serves her community of El Triunfo as a healer. It’s her tincture that helps lessen the effects of the fungus on Noemí and Catalina, which provides credibility to a traditional medical practice that many would be tempted to dismiss as quackery (the Doyles certainly do).
